What did you want to be?
What mattered to you, before you came in here?
Football.
I had a trial,
with West Ham.
You didn't get in?
It was me and another kid from school.
They took him and not you?
Do you want me to find him?
Have him killed?
What?
You can have anything you want in here...
... if you have the right friends.
I think you're going down.
I want you to get used to that idea.
Makes it easier when it happens.
- Thanks. - No problem.
Just think,
this time tomorrow, you'll be in your own bed.
See you around.
Hooch...
No.
Don't lie to me.
I let you down, betrayed you.
That's all.
What did you have for breakfast?
Five cigarettes.
You nervous?
It's my first murder.
Me too.
You did not commit this murder.
What standard of proof
does the prosecution need to reach before you can convict this defendant?
You must be sure
beyond all reasonable doubt.
Nothing less will do.
What you are about to do now is probably
the single most important duty you'll ever be asked to perform.
The consequences are profound.
The stakes could not be higher.
Now go and consider your verdict.
- Question from the jury? - No.
- Verdict? - Could be good.
It's a murder trial, it'd be indecent to convict him after an hour and a half.
All rise.
Will the foreman please stand.
Have you reached a verdict upon which you are all agreed?
Yes.
Do you find the defendant
guilty or not guilty of murder?
Guilty.
This was a vicious and evil murder.
Right from the moment you committed this terrible crime,
you have done everything possible to obstruct the judicial process.
Thank goodness the police,
the prosecution and this jury
have had the good sense to see past your deviousness.
The criminal justice system is too strong for you, Ben Coulter.
There is only one sentence I can pass
and that is one of life imprisonment.
Take him down.
I know what a bad man looks like.
I know what he smells like.
That stink is in every single breath I take.
I live my life with them down there.
I'm your real jury.
You didn't do this.
Believe me.
Lifer's are supposed to get their own cell.
As you know, we don't have the space.
You're a con. So you work.
Kitchens.
It's a good job.
Work hard, you keep it.
Wait. Flitcroft.
Why you doing this?
Why are you giving him the best job?
It's because you don't think he did it. Isn't it?
Goodnight, boys.
You're not eating.
No, I'm thinking.
You know how it is with men.
Thinking and eating at the same time,
way too hard.
You've always done that.
What?
Self-deprecating jokes get you out of answering hard questions.
You lost a trial.
In my experience it's very rare for the jury to get it wrong.
Look...
it's lonely as hell when you lose. But...
another day, another brief.
You look across a table at someone new
who very badly needs your help
and, with wig and gown,
you go on
and you fight for them.
Hello?
Ben?
I just wanted to say that...
I don't blame you.
It's not your fault.
OK?
Bye.
Move on.
Featherweight,
make a wish!
I came to apologise.
- I made some mistakes. - Yes, you did.
That doesn't mean we can't make this right again.
You know, you're the first barrister to ever come here.
20...
whatever years of conferences at chambers.
Never once here.
You're a real rule-breaker in every sense.
What about the boyfriend? Stuart Napier?
- Yeah, what about him? - It's not Ben, it's not Dad.
You want to know what I think?
I think we had a 10% chance of getting a not guilty
out of this bang-to-rights true bill.
And you blew that chance.
Live with it.
I can't.
Are you going to gonna help him?
When did you last see Melanie?
We were supposed to meet up the night she died.
But you didn't?
The trial's over, isn't it? What's all this about?
- Where were you supposed to meet? - A bar.
Are you scared of me?
Why are you scared of me?
I didn't show up.
Because of the way her dad was I didn't think it was worth the hassle any more.
You were finishing with her?
She called me on my mobile that night.
Twice.
You ignored her calls.
Where's the bar you were supposed to meet?
It's called Parliament.
Stone? It's me.
Do you remember the murder on the Stock Hill estate?
Wasn't that the same night Melanie died?
How are you?
Fantastic.
Really fantastic.
You?
You've come a long way.
You were a lot younger when all this started.
- What do you want? - I want to get you out of here.
How?
The jury's verdict.
I think it was unsafe.
Your barrister had an inappropriate relationship with you.
She made big mistakes.
Her professional judgement was completely up the creek.
What's she say?
One question.
How is a 21 year old on trial for murder
supposed to know what he's doing
when his barrister is behaving like a...
a total amateur?
What would happen to Frances?
Here's the choice.
Her career, your life.
And if you don't do this...
10 years from now,
when you wake up for the four thousand time
in your tiny little cell and you look in the mirror...
you won't be thinking about Frances Kapoor.
I thought a brief was supposed to look at the unused material
before her client goes to prison for life.
You know what I think is really wrong with the police in this country?
Institutional sarcasm.
Phone call for you, Jeary.
Who is it?
Tell them I'm coming.
It'll be part of the forensic report. Talk to the team about them.
Young Jeary said you were here.
- He shouldn't be doing this. - What?
Young police officer should be out on the streets.
But the modern police force needs top-class bureaucrats, apparently.
Don't let me stop you.
It's fine.
- I'm done. - So quickly?
You're old-fashioned through and through.
Lessons in life from my old man.
Always hold a door open for a lady and never underestimate a woman.
There were two murders on that same night.
Melanie and the Stock Hill Estate murder.
That's right.
With nothing in common?
Me.
They're both mine.
Oh, yes.
Of course.
Freddie.
Leave him alone.
Stop giving him smack.
Wrong way round, Hooch.
He comes to me.
His choice.
Why are you doing this?
Give me a minute.
He's just so... rare.
How do you mean?
An innocent man.
How many of those do we meet in here?
Just makes the fact that he comes to me,
for what I can give him, all the more...
moving.
How do you know he's innocent?
I always know.
I think Melanie witnessed another murder that night.
That's why she wanted to go to the seaside to get out of there.
She was running away.
So, what are you going to do?
- Solve two murders? - Ben?
This is just about you
This is about you and your idea of how you can feel good about yourself.
What about me?
We can go to the police.
The police have got their man.
Right here, where they want him.
Please don't come here again.
There you go.
What's this?
My listening days are over.
You can't do that.
You're too valuable.
All right?
Petrol station witness.
Up late.
Good result in the Lloyd murder.
My gut's never wrong.
Who's that?
Don't know. It's just where the tape stopped.
Stone, it's Ben Coulter.
I've been thinking about what you said.
About the appeal.
I've made up my mind.
This way, sir.
Where are we going?
Sir.
If you'd just like to...
wait here please, sir.
Hello, Mr Box.
Little risky, isn't it? Being seen with me.
Oh, those days are gone.
All that old-fashioned honour nonsense about not consorting with the filth.
Gives me a headache just thinking about it.
You want people to know that we talk?
I'm not ashamed of anything I do.
Order must be kept.
We work together.
What does that make us?
Men of courage, Mr Box.
What do you want?
Give me a name... for the Stock Hill murder.
I have a hunch.
And you know everything about everyone on that patch.
What's your hunch?
Two murders, one murderer.
Ben Coulter didn't kill Melanie Lloyd.
But you know who did.
Your hunch is wrong.
Fine.
Good.
End of hunch.
Sir?
- I saw the wrong prisoner. - Sorry, sir?
Get me Coulter.
You just can't keep away from me, can you?
I can help you.
What?
The judge said this was an evil crime.
That's a big word
in the lexicon of rehabilitation.
Well, spit it out!
Take responsibility for what you've done...
and a parole board can see past that word.
Still after me to confess?
Is that why you're here?
Six years.
You could do as little as six.
You wouldn't even be 30.
Too old to play for the second-best team in East London maybe, but...
Hold on.
Just a bit longer.
You'll soon be out.
It's over, Hooch.
You can't get out.
Nobody can.
Ben!
I'll see you.
You were wrong. I didn't take your advice.
I haven't moved on. And I'm really on to something.
That's why I wanted to see you.
- What is it? - It's an appeal.
I haven't sought leave yet.
I wanted to be the one to give you these.
Professional misconduct.
Barrister and her feelings make it impossible
for the appellant to get a fair trial.
Murders and emotional embroilments don't mix, Frances.
Can I give you some advice I think you should actually take?
Fight, and fight very dirty.
Call Ben Coulter a liar.
Your word against his. Convicted murderer versus female,
non-white member of the bar.
It's your only hope.
I don't believe he'd do this.
You bastard!
Hello, Frances.
Tell me...
how do you think this trial went in terms of your performance?
- Don't you dare! - Good clear, objective decision-making?
See, I think Frances Kapoor,
champion of justice, seeker of the truth,
is a barrister with no judgement.
Has he agreed to this?
- He hasn't, has he? - Do you really think
that becoming emotionally involved with a defendant
in a murder trial is fair?
Or just?
- That's not it. - What is it, then?
Beating the system?
You can't do that. It's the best there is.
Ben Coulter knows that.
In answer to your question, yes,
he has agreed.
I am acting under his instruction.
Carefully recorded,
properly elicited, without undue pressure or emotional abuse.
What he wants
nothing else.
Confession?
Not mine, Freddie.
Yours.
You know who killed Melanie Lloyd,
don't you, Freddie?
I need to know.
Get this to Ben Coulter's brief.
She's called Frances Kapoor.
Post it outside the prison. Tell no-one.
So?
I've always felt you believe you occupy the moral high ground.
You and your gut.
Sit down.
We've got to ask you for a second time. Who's that?
You know who it is.
The court of appeal, the whole world knows who it is.
When a man is drowning,
they say his whole life passes through his mind.
What are you talking about?
A letter from a con called Hooch
surfaces after his "suicide".
It contains evidence that Melanie Lloyd's killer
and the man responsible for the Stock Hill estate murder
are one and the same.
Would you like a glass of water?
Have a glass of water.
We find that Melanie was followed from the Stock Hill estate
all the way to the seaside
and then all the way back to her house.
And who followed Melanie?
Say it, Box.
Paul Fittipaldi.
Who, it turns out,
as well as being a witness in the Melanie trial,
is good friends with very big criminals.
Then I remember
I've seen my senior investigating officer
watching CCTV footage of Fittipaldi
and deny he knows who he is.
How can that be?
Gross incompetence?
Are you a useless police officer?
That would be your way out, Box. "I am an incompetent police officer."
Do you want to take it?
Your hand is shaking.
You made a deal, didn't you?
You've let criminals police criminals.
Whatever I've done,
it's always been for the greater good.
We're supposed to protect the public. That's what we're for.
But you lot, with your budgets
and your form filling and your...
cutbacks.
The whole police force
is turning into one big office.
I was merely allocating the meagre resources I was handed.
You haven't got the courage to tell me.
But there is one last thing you can do.
Everybody!
Everyone!
He's home.
My son,
your friend.
And we just want to say how crucial your support has been to us
through all of this.
I know It sounds like a cliché, but my God, you find out
who your friends are at times like these.
So, anyway, we knew that he'd...
get his freedom and...
we just want to say thank you for all your support,
and your loyalty and your faith.
You've given our son his future back.
To Ben.
I thought this would be a bad idea, but...
you know your dad.
You know, I spent quite a lot of time in here while you were away.
Away?
Sorry.
Do you want to be on your own?
You know, when you talk to me now, the first thing you say...
is that you're not Dad.
As if...
- that gives you access. - Access?
I'm your mum!
You thought I killed her.
At least...
you and me were honest with each other.
That...
gives us a chance, doesn't it?
It gives us somewhere to start.
Don't want to be alone tonight.
They'll win.
The appeal.
Forget the trial,
forget the...
court of appeal.
What about the other man?
You know,
back in the '70s there was a deodorant...
Norska.
I used to spray it everywhere, even in me shoes.
The smell was lovely.
It was clean, pure.
Like Norwegian pine.
It's what fresh evidence smells like, Ben.
They know who did this, it wasn't you.
And Frances?
Well, the ball is already rolling with the Bar conduct committee.
There's... nothing we can do.
We couldn't know new evidence would be found, Ben.
Going for the mistrial, it was the right option.
You know, she was the only person
who actually wanted to hear what I had to say.
Do You really think it things would have been different
had I let you tell me everything at the start?
This is justice.
It's rough, but it's right.
You're free, Ben.
Go and live your life.